Cynopsis: Kids!
05/07/12
Good morning. It’s Monday, May 7, 2012, and this your first early morning briefing.
Answering a few questions this week is acclaimed illustrator and author, Tony DiTerlizzi. In 2010, DiTerlizzi released his futuristic tale, The Search for WondLa, and tomorrow marks the release of his follow-up title, A Hero for WondLa, both of which are published by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers. Paramount has acquired the rights to The Search for WondLa and is currently developing it as a live-action feature film. DiTerlizzi’s earlier works include picture books such as Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-this-World Moon Pie Adventure (2000), Ted (2001), and The Spider and The Fly (2002), followed by his popular Spiderwick books with Holly Black. Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies released a live action adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles in 2008 starring Freddie Highmore, Mary Louise-Parker and Nick Nolte. DiTerlizzi works with his wife, Angela, and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with their daughter. I’ve mentioned only a few of DiTerlizzi’s books here check them all out!
Tell us about your new book A Hero for WondLa, a sequel to The Search for WondLa (2010), which releases tomorrow.
HERO picks up right where THE SEARCH FOR WONDLA left off. In the first book, the heroine, Eva Nine, believes that she is the only human alive on the planet and that all changes when a human pilot arrives at the very end of the story. Now Eva and her alien friend, Rovender Kitt, are whisked away to the human city, New Attica.
This chapter of the trilogy explores the theme of “Actions vs. Words”. Though the city appears utopian, it soon reveals darker secrets. Eva is going to have to start making moral decisions now. The delineation of “good guys” and “bad guys” is becoming harder and harder for her to discern between.
Movie adaptations of books can take a long time. How soon will The Search for WondLa become a film?
Films do take time to develop. There is so much money invested in them that the studio has to get the adaptation in a place where they feel audiences will respond. I can tell you that I worked closely with the screenwriter, Chase Palmer, on the screenplay and Paramount Pictures is now exploring potential directors.
As much as I would love to see the film released right away, I am also for getting the story just right. I want it to work as a successful movie, so I am happy with it developing thoughtfully and carefully.
Will here be a third book in the WondLa series?
I have been detailing the outline of the third book since I finished the draft of HERO. Originally, I plotted out all three with an overarching story plot. Now the task is not just a matter of tying up loose ends, but also creating a story that stands on its own.
Are you and Holly Black working on another project… maybe a new Spiderwick related book?
Holly and I have had conversations about the 10-year anniversary of Spiderwick, which is next year. (I can’t believe it has been 10 years already! Where did the time go?) We are hoping to do something special to celebrate, but I am not quite sure just what that will be at the moment.
You credit seeing Jim Henson’s movie The Dark Crystal and playing Dungeons & Dragons, all when you were 12, as basically creative stimulators for you. What was it about each of these that spurred you to write and illustrate your own field guide of creatures?
I believe I was exposed to both of these at a critical age. At 12, you are starting to really think and operate independently of what you are told to do.
Both the D&D game books and Jim Henson’s films were composed of pure creative manna for me. I couldn’t help but be inspired.
As I reflect on that, I feel another important aspect of this equation was boredom.
That field guide to creatures that I made over the summer when I was 12 was a result of my mom allowing me to become bored. Alone in my room, with not much too do, I dreamed up a project of my own that I could complete at my own speed and in my own way. Again, this is critical at age 12 when you are still somewhat scheduled and told what to do by adults. I sometimes worry with how overscheduled I see kids today. Boredom allows the mind to wander.
As a young kid you “created” drawings of Winnie-the-Pooh on your newly painted bedroom walls. How did that go over with your parents?
At first, not well. But in my defense, those walls just looked so blank, so inviting.
Fortunately, my parents were pretty cool about it. After I helped my mom wipe the drawing off, my dad arrived with a roll of butcher paper, which he then taped to my wall. We painted this epic Mesozoic scene with dinosaurs and exploding volcanoes. I wish I still had that painting. It was awesome.
Do you still have the books you made as young kid – one about dinosaurs, the field guide – and I’m guessing there were others? As an adult looking back at those creations are you critical or impressed by the work?
I still have those books! There was also a field guide to insects that I had caught. Growing up in south Florida was a bug paradise for this boy.
As I leaf through these homemade books now, its not so much the artistic talent that pops out certainly I’ve seen younger artists who are much more advanced than I was – but the diligence in setting out to create a book and then seeing it through to finish. It was (and still is) a lot of work. You are taking little steps towards a longterm goal. I am impressed that I saw these through and didn’t quit along the way.
Did your artwork ever get you into trouble at school, the Boy Scouts or somewhere else?
I was that kid that sat in the back of the classroom with his head in the clouds, drawing and doodling all day. Most of my teachers were able to recognize my creativity and helped focus it toward the subject at hand; however there were those who did not see it that way and consequently I would get into trouble.
Again, as I think back to my public school days, imagination and creativity through the arts were always present.
In fact, these days when I speak to a group of elementary students and ask who likes to write and draw, almost all hands go up. When I ask the same question to group of middle school students, it is about a third. By high school, it’s only a handful of kids who acknowledge that they enjoy drawing and writing.
I don’t believe that this decline in art and creative writing is a result of kids being discouraged in the class, but I have to wonder how much it is being encouraged. I am a result of encouragement at a young age, both by my parents and by certain teachers who saw my potential.
I’ve often been asked by parents what to do if their child shows signs of creative writing or drawing. All I can say is to encourage and support them. Illustration and writing are primarily solitary jobs and you need all the confidence you can get to see it through to a place where you are comfortable sharing your efforts with an audience.
When you were young, did your own imagination surprise you–or did you immediately accept the thoughts in your head?
I just thought that everyone operated the same way. And I believe that many other kids did.
I hate to sound old, but bear in mind that the movies, video games, toys and other childhood distractions were much less realistic in the late 1970’s/ early 80’s than they are today. So you HAD to use your imagination when playing. I think that is one of the reasons I gravitated towards becoming a person who creates books, the reader has to engage their imagination to get the most out of it.
Early in career you did work for TSR, which publishes Dungeons & Dragons, illustrating for both Dungeons & Dragons and its collectible card game Magic the Gathering (my kids loved MTG). Though many people joke about these sorts of games the artwork is amazing. What is most important to keep in mind when creating warriors, wizards and the like?
The artwork in those games was (and still is) stellar. I was happy and honored to be a part of the gaming lineage.
The approach I often used for illustrating these games is really the same one I used for the Spiderwick books: how can you make a hackneyed creature like a goblin or fairy and make it look fresh and exciting to a 21st century kid?
Unexpected solutions to the creative challenge of drawing a wizard or a warrior can often produce rich results. We all know that a warrior wears armor, and there is an actual history of armor that we can reference – but what if the armor were made of dragon’s scales? Or a giant’s hide? The same goes with wizards. In fact, I’d say that was one of the key aspects to the success of the Harry Potter franchise. Harry wasn’t an old man with a beard and pointy hat. He wasn’t Gandalf or Merlin, and yet he possessed many of the same magical abilities.
This is key to how I create everything. What is the obvious route this story or illustration can go? How can I turn it on its head and create something new and exciting with it? I’ve worked this way since I was just a kid and my hope is that kids today will enjoy what I’ve created in the end.
Disney and Marvel Studios‘ release of Marvel’s The Avengers this weekend has taken super powers to a whole new level, with an estimated domestic box office take of $200.3 million to become biggest domestic movie weekend open ever, and thus, demolishing the previous record holder set last year by Warner Bros.’ release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (July 15, 2011) with $169.2 million. Marvel’s The Avengers in 2D, digital 3D, Real D and Imax 3D movie theaters. In its domestic opening weekend the movie also set records as the biggest Saturday in box office receipts ever with $69.7 million, biggest Sunday at $50.1 million, the biggest three day opening weekend gross and fastest movie to reach $200 million ever, and the biggest PG-13 movie opening and open of a May movie ever, per Box Office Mojo. Marvel’s The Avengers began its release internationally April 25, 2012 and new grossed an estimated $651.8 million worldwide. The movie now also stands as the biggest opening weekend of all time in multiple international territories, including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Central America, Peru, Bolivia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines and Russia. Domestically, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 still remains as the best ever opening day and single day for a movie with $91.1 million.
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NCircle Entertainment and Kidtoon Films team to bring TV episodes of Sid the Science Kid to the big screen all this month as part of the Kidtoons kid/family aimed matinee program at 120+ movie theaters nationwide. Created and produced by The Jim Henson Company, Sid the Science Kid airs weekdays on PBS Kids (www.pbskids.org/sid). Kidtoons will also be conducting blogger and theater giveaway programs that will include free movie tickets and Sid the Science Kid and Word World DVDs all this May on Facebook, Twitter and Kidtoons blogger network.
Lionsgate‘s feature film The Hunger Games, which has already grossed nearly $620 million at the worldwide box office, has been approved for release in China this summer. The film will be released nationwide in China in the first part of June with both dubbed and subtitled prints by The China Film Group in conjunction with Lionsgate’s promotional partner, Talent International. The Hunger Games will be one of the first Hollywood studio films to be released in China under the new blockbuster revenue sharing agreement announced in February that allows Western distributors to collect up to 25% of a film’s receipts in China.
PBS Kids Go’s! web series, Oh Noah! (f/k/a Noah Comprende), is rolling out a line-up of new animated interactive videos and games that introduce kids to Spanish this month and through fall 2012. The games are embedded in the Oh Noah! (www.pbskidsgo.org/noah) videos, along with other interactive challenges and adventures on the website, and provide K6-8 with an introduction to Spanish vocabulary and common phrases. The Oh Noah! Vides star 9-year-old Noah, who is staying with his grandmother in a community where everyone speaks Spanish. A series of misunderstandings launch comic misadventures for Noah, as he tries to communicate with others who don’t speak English. In each of the short episodes, kids can move their cursors over objects on the screen to hear the names in Spanish and play a series of arcade-style games that reinforce learning. Additionally, the Oh Noah! website will feature two new character-driven games that encourage replay and retention. Oh Noah! is produced by Thirteen in association with WNET, and is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Renegade Animation produces the Oh Noah! animation and Bluemarker is the website and game developer.
Astral‘s Family Channel (Canada) will premiere season three of Good Luck Charlie on Friday, May 11 at 8:50p. The new season debuts as part of the network’s Good Luck Charlie marathon, which begins at 4p. Additionally, Family.ca (www.family.ca) will feature the new Good Luck Charlie game Wacky Week Round Up, and other series related games that will bow over the summer. Following the new season launch, Good Luck Charlie will continue to air in its regular timeslot on Fridays at 5:30p. Finally, Family OnDemand also offer new episodes of Good Luck Charlie as they become available weekly from May 18, 2012.
BabyFirst (www.babyfirsttv.com), a baby aimed TV channel, acquires the rights to air The Classic Nursery Rhymes Collection. The franchise features classic tales such as Old MacDonald, Pop Goes the Weasel and Mary Had A Little Lamb, which are all animated and set to music by Ocean Music. The new series will air as part of BabyFirst’s Art & Music daily block, which is designed to introduce the young viewers to creative arts. The BabyFirst channel is currently available to 80+ million households in 35 countries including on five US satellite and cable operators – including via the basic package on DirecTV, Dish Network and Comcast (spring 2012), as well as a premium service in select Time-Warner and Charter markets.
Cartoon Network and Warner Home Video will release a new DVD, The Amazing World of Gumball The DVD, this August 28, 2012. The DVD title will feature 12 episodes from the first season Cartoon Network’s mixed 2D/3D animated/live-action series The Amazing World of Gumball, as well as a character gallery special feature. The second season of The Amazing World of Gumball is slated to premiere on Cartoon Network this summer. Created by Ben Bocquelet, The Amazing World of Gumball is the first UK-produced full-length animated series out of Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe.
Join us for the 1st annual Cynopsis Kids !magination Awards Breakfast on June 7 from 8:00-10:30 a.m. at Le Parker Meridien in NYC. Join award finalists, support your colleagues and network with the best in the industry! Register now http://www.cynopsis.com/events/kids-awards !
STONE SOUP
Weekend Box Office Estimates for kids/tweens/teens rated G, PG or PG-13; May 4-6, 2012:
Marvel’s The Avenger (Disney) PG-13 Opening Weekend $200.3m
Think Like A Man (Sony) PG-13 $8.0m-3 wk total $73.0m
The Hunger Games (Lionsgate) PG-13 $5.7m-7 wk total $380.7m
The Lucky One (Warner Bros.) PG-13 $5.5m-3 wk total $47.9m
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Sony) PG $5.4m-2 wk total $18.6m
Chimpanzee (Disney) G $2.4m-3 wk total 23.0m
The Three Stooges (Fox) PG $1.8m-4 wk total 39.6m
Mirror Mirror (Relativity Media) PG $715,000-6 wk total $60.1m
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (Universal) PG $403,775-10 wk total $209.0m
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (CBS) PG-13 $270,000-9 wk total $8.2m
Source: Rentrak (www.rentrak.com)
RATINGS
Live + Same Day Ratings Kids Cable Network Averages (000) for Thursday, May 3, 2012, 6am-11pm, ranked by K2-11:
DISNEY CHANNEL: K2-11 763; K6-11 414; TWEENS 9-14 341
NICKELODEON: K2-11 749; K6-11 290; TWEENS 9-14 219
CARTOON NETWORK: K2-11 390; K6-11 259; TWEENS 9-14 225
DISNEY XD: K2-11 167; K6-11 123; TWEENS 9-14 98
NICKTOONS: K2-11 83; K6-11 52; TWEENS 9-14 44
Source: MTVN Research from Nielsen Media Research Data
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
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Date: June 7, 2012
Time: 8:00-10:30 a.m.
Location: Le Parker Meridien, NYC
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Answer to Our Last Trivia Question: How does Wile E. Coyote refer to himself? Wile E. Coyote – Super Genius. Kudos to: Joe Swaney-Cartoon Network/Adult Swim/Atlanta; Russ Camlet-NBCU/NY; Chris Devine Dailey-Simply Devine Marketing Group/Deposit, NY; Hank Bordowitz-The Bordowitz Media Werx/Ridgewood, NJ; Jeph Loeb-Marvel Television, Inc /Glendale, CA; Derek Bartholomaus-Profiles TV/El Segundo; William “Chip” Beaman-Soundelux Design Music Group/Hollywood; Sabrina Sparlin-CESD/LA.
Today’s Trivia Question:What cartoon character was based on an animal in Mark Twain’s Roughing It? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)
Later — Gwen
Gwen Billings for Cynopsis Kids!
05.07.12
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